Saudi military strikes Iran-backed Houthi targets in Yemen
Fighters supporting the Aden-based internationally-recognised Yemeni government gather during a vigil along the Red Sea shore in Khokha, in Yemen’s western Hodeidah province on July 20, 2026, calling for a resumption of hostilities with the Huthi group currently controlling the capital Sanaa. (Photo by Khaled ZIAD / AFP via Getty Images)
Khaled Ziad | Afp | Getty Images
Saudi Arabia said on Saturday that its coalition forces struck Houthi militia in Yemen after the Iran-backed group claimed to have attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea earlier in the week.
Air defenses in Saudi Arabia reportedly intercepted two ballistic missiles from Yemen.
The latest salvos appeared to indicate an escalation in fighting in a second front in the Iran war.
The Saudi strikes “focused solely on legitimate military targets that the terrorist Houthi militia uses to threaten commercial vessels in the Red Sea,” Major General Turki Al-Malki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, said in a statement.
On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would hold Iran responsible for further attacks by the Houthis, after the militant group said it had struck the Saudi tankers.
“If they do this again, the U.S. will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis, themselves,” he said in a Truth Social post.
The Houthis declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia on Monday, threatening to cut off the kingdom’s oil exports through the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Al-Malki said the Houthis had carried out a “reckless and cowardly act by targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea.”
Reuters quoted Greek security sources as saying that air defense systems in Saudi Arabia intercepted two ballistic missiles from Yemen on Saturday targeting oil refineries in Yanbu, a day after U.S. forces launched fresh air strikes on Iran.
Saudi Civil Defence said it issued several warnings for Yanbu, located on the Red Sea, and later said the danger had passed. There were no immediate official reports of damage.
The defense system was operated by Greek military personnel, the sources were quoted as saying.
U.S. forces had launched air strikes on Iran late on Thursday and early on Friday, the 13th consecutive night of attacks.
The military reportedly attacked a merchant vessel that was trying to breach its blockade of Iran’s ports,
The Associated Press quoted U.S. Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins as saying that American forces disabled the M/T Lavine in the Gulf of Oman after the ship attempted to run the blockade at least four times.
Trump said he will soon make a decision on whether to launch a “massive attack” on Iran.
At the same time, Pakistan is looking for ways to restart stalled peace talks between the U.S. and Iran, Reuters reported Friday morning, citing three Pakistani sources.
Speaking to Axios on Thursday, the president said that the proposed strikes would be bigger than anything seen in the war so far, and that Iran has not “received enough pain yet.”
– Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.